spell specialization feat

[stewstew5]

Spell Specialist
prerequisite: the ability to cast at least one improvable spell
- Pick a spell you know that can be cast with a higher spell slot. Any time you cast this spell, you may treat it as though you cast it with one level higher spell slot. You cannot use this feature if it would cast the spell at a level you cannot, unless you are casting it with a feature that does not grant spell slots
- With the same spell, you may cast it as a cantrip. If you do so you may only roll one dice of each type, any area measurements become 5' and duration longer than 1 round becomes halved. You cannot heal with this spell if you cast it in this way

I made this feat and want opinions on it's power/balance. So far here are my justifications:


- for sorcerers, clerics and druids it's decent feat but nothing special

- for wizards, who already specialize a lot in certain spells, it's really good. There is the slight caveat where if they lose their spellbook on a day they don't have it prepared, they've wasted a feat, though this would be rare

- on warlocks it's a good way to conserve spell slots or boost a mystic arcanum, but they won't get much use out of it with their main repetoire of spells

- paladins and rangers would get it crazy good, not having other access to cantrips except for two other feats

- paladins would especially benefit from this, being able to conserve their higher level spell slots for holy smite, or specialize in a smite spell for an extra d6-d8 of damage as a bonus action. Smite spells are concentration for their longer effects though, and (realistically) an equal-level monk would be getting a d4 + 4 damage for a bonus action so it's not op

- spellcasting races like tiefling with hellish rebuke would also benefit from this greatly in the same way a warlock would

[Composer99]

Spell Specialist
prerequisite: the ability to cast at least one improvable spell
- Pick a spell you know that can be cast with a higher spell slot. Any time you cast this spell, you may treat it as though you cast it with one level higher spell slot. You cannot use this feature if it would cast the spell at a level you cannot, unless you are casting it with a feature that does not grant spell slots
- With the same spell, you may cast it as a cantrip. If you do so you may only roll one dice of each type, any area measurements become 5' and duration longer than 1 round becomes halved. You cannot heal with this spell if you cast it in this way

I made this feat and want opinions on it's power/balance. So far here are my justifications:


- for sorcerers, clerics and druids it's decent feat but nothing special

- for wizards, who already specialize a lot in certain spells, it's really good. There is the slight caveat where if they lose their spellbook on a day they don't have it prepared, they've wasted a feat, though this would be rare

- on warlocks it's a good way to conserve spell slots or boost a mystic arcanum, but they won't get much use out of it with their main repetoire of spells

- paladins and rangers would get it crazy good, not having other access to cantrips except for two other feats

- paladins would especially benefit from this, being able to conserve their higher level spell slots for holy smite, or specialize in a smite spell for an extra d6-d8 of damage as a bonus action. Smite spells are concentration for their longer effects though, and (realistically) an equal-level monk would be getting a d4 + 4 damage for a bonus action so it's not op

- spellcasting races like tiefling with hellish rebuke would also benefit from this greatly in the same way a warlock would

(1) I don't see the need for the prerequisite. It's already built into the feat, since you can't benefit from a spell that doesn't improve as you upcast it.

(2) I really think you should cap the upcast effect to affect spells of 1st through 4th level, so you can only ever cast a spell of up to 5th level. 6th-level spells and up are treated differently - wizards and druids can't get those slots back with their respective recovery features, warlock spell slots don't go up to 6th, and sorcerers can't create slots of those levels - so I really think anything that isn't a 20th-level capstone shouldn't mess with how they work.

(3) The 'cast a spell as a cantrip' thing is just... I don't know, it just seems too fiddly for 5e. It strikes me that casting your chosen specialised spell without expending a spell slot, and have to finish a long rest to do so again would be a cleaner implementation, even if it isn't quite what you're going for.

What about having a benefit where, when you roll damage for a spell, you can roll a d4 and add it to one damage roll? Or if one or more creatures makes a saving throw against a spell you cast, you can instead roll a d4 and subtract the result from one saving throw? You could do either once on your turn, and this ability could apply either to your chosen specialised spell, or to any spell you cast.

[stewstew5]

(1) I don't see the need for the prerequisite. It's already built into the feat, since you can't benefit from a spell that doesn't improve as you upcast it.

(2) I really think you should cap the upcast effect to affect spells of 1st through 4th level, so you can only ever cast a spell of up to 5th level. 6th-level spells and up are treated differently - wizards and druids can't get those slots back with their respective recovery features, warlock spell slots don't go up to 6th, and sorcerers can't create slots of those levels - so I really think anything that isn't a 20th-level capstone shouldn't mess with how they work.

(3) The 'cast a spell as a cantrip' thing is just... I don't know, it just seems too fiddly for 5e. It strikes me that casting your chosen specialised spell without expending a spell slot, and have to finish a long rest to do so again would be a cleaner implementation, even if it isn't quite what you're going for.

What about having a benefit where, when you roll damage for a spell, you can roll a d4 and add it to one damage roll? Or if one or more creatures makes a saving throw against a spell you cast, you can instead roll a d4 and subtract the result from one saving throw? You could do either once on your turn, and this ability could apply either to your chosen specialised spell, or to any spell you cast.

The 5th level spell capstone is a good idea, I’ll replace the no-upcasting one with that

As for the cantrip, you’re right that it’s fiddly and a bit out of place in 5e, but I don’t think it should be removed (it is, after all, the founding idea of this feat). My biggest (and probably only) issue with moving to 3.5e to 5e was the less character options, and this feat would help expand on that in the way 5e gets you to expand on characters instead of building on them.

As for the bonus action, it seems a bit basic for a homebrew feat. There’s already a lot of similar things in the core set